Great Gatsby Character Analysis PDF

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Submitted May 4th 2019
Professor Li
Literature 102...

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Tayl orBoar o Pr of essorLi Li t er at ur e102 4May2019 Gr eatGat sbyChar act erAnal y si s The Great Gatsby is a famous novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald; like all other stories, Fitzgerald uses a series of characters to unfold the plot. Every character contains certain features that define who they are. Some of these defining features may be considered either a strength or weakness, regardless each contribute to the persona of each individual as well as the storyline as a whole. Beautiful, yet distraught, Daisy Buchanan is the main focus of Gatsby. She was perfect in essence, Carrway described her as having a beautiful voice, “The kind of voice that the ear follows up and down.” She did not drink although surrounded by many heavy drinkers, both of these qualities making her appealing to those who surrounded her, providing her with a facade of being genuine. She could easily make many people adore her, suiting her lifestyle. Unfortunately for Daisy, a show can only go on for so long, as her flaw was her desire for money and materialistic ideals. In chapter 7 Gatsby went on to describe her voice, but not as Carraway did early on, as he stated, “She’s got an indiscreet voice…Her voice is full of money”. Gatsby's characteristics are prominently displayed, mostly through his interactions with others. He appeared through the story to be a successful man, being looked up with admiration. Carrway spoke of Gatsby saying, “there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life.” Similar to Daisy, although, Gatsby was an established man, his lies began to fall short. He claimed he attended Oxford as he choked, making the narrator

skeptical of the honesty in his statements. Lying appeared to be only one factor of his weakness, as it was shadow to the overall dissatisfaction he was believed to have with life. The narrator believed that Gatsby, “Must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream”. The quote evidently displays that even through his financial strengths Gatsby suffered disappointment in life, perhaps due to his facade or persistence. Authors often use a character to tell the story from their perspective, rather, the characters point of view. Fitzgerald used Nick Carraway as his narrator, offering the audience to see beyond his actions. From a personal level, Caraway can be seen as being substantially different than the other characters. Carrway, from a young age was taught well by his father, one piece of advice being, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had”. This piece of advice humbled him, strengthening his character. I perceive Carrway to be more genuine, having similar views to myself, he establishes a distaste for superficial products, he also finds that the New York life style is unfulfilling. He believes this to be so as it is simply filled with many parties, drinking, drugs, and materialistic items; all of which hold no true value in human happiness. Through these traits of Carrway it can be seen that Fitzgerald wanted to portray that, although Gatsby was this astonishing and rich man his life in essence, lacked true value. Humanity over financial insanity is a different approach to his Character. Similar to a personal interpretation of him, Fitzgerald used Carrway to display a theme that materialistic items can not provide true happiness. When Myrtle had passed, those who surrounded her did not bat an eye, unlike Carrway who was disgusted by the lack of care shown by others, as seen by the quote, “"They're a rotten crowd” describing Tom, Daisy and Jordan. The quote shows his dis-

taste for their actions, it shows judgement, something he strived not to be, perhaps the one fault evidently portrayed by this character....